Financial Heritage

 

Museum of American Finance

The Museum of American Finance is a socially-relevant institution that empowers people to understand and take control of one of the most important aspects of their lives. The museum has a mission to broaden awareness of the power and value of finance and the capital markets as drivers of the economy.

Wells Fargo’s Museums Twelve museums demonstrate Wells Fargo’s history. Wells Fargo and Company’s Express provided financial services by the fastest means available: overseas by sailing ship or steamer; and overland by stagecoach, Pony Express or railroad.

New Orleans Museum of Trade, Finance, and the Fed In the Museum of Trade, Finance, and the Fed in the New Orleans Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta you can explore how finance grew from trade, how New Orleans evolved into a bustling port and financial center, and how the institutions, instruments, and people made it all possible.

The Money Museum, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.  Two locations: Kansas City, KS and Denver, CO

Bank of England Museum The Bank of England has a unique role promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability. However, our Museum is about much more than money! Discover the history of the Bank, its buildings, and the people who have shaped it over more than 300 years.​

Financial Education in the British Museum Featuring more than a thousand objects from the Museum’s extensive collections, the Citi Money Gallery looks at the history of the world through the lens of money, from 4500 years ago to the latest developments in digital technology.

Schweizer Finanzmuseum In a multimedia exhibition, the first and only financial museum in Switzerland – a country known for its banks – explains the origins of the economic system and the role of the stock market. Find out all there is to know about the Swiss financial market and experience economic history and modern innovations in a way that is entertaining and uses a variety of different media.

 

Euronext Amsterdam AEX Experience Tour through the history of the Amsterdam as a financialcenter.

Exchangehistory.nl www.exchangehistory.nl is an initiative of the Capital Amsterdam Foundation. This website intends to introduce a wide audience to the rich, 400-year-long Dutch stock exchange history in an accessible, modern fashion. The idea behind the website is that a good knowledge of this history can lead to a better understanding of the importance of a well-functioning public capital market for the Netherlands – in the past, present and future.

 

Map of Dutch Financial Heritage Website and virtual expo about the rich financial history of the Netherlands. An advanced map of Amsterdam provides a virtual museum of the cradle of the stock market, the Amsterdam exchanges, bank, banks and merchants. Hosted by Simon Lelieveldt

 

Financial History Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management, Yale University

Stock certificate issued during the period of the South Sea Bubble mania. LINK: http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3443895

The International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management Collection of Financial History is one of Beinecke Library’s more recent initiatives.  It is a collaborative undertaking with the Yale School of Management and reflects the recognition that the preservation and study of historical documents is vital to broader scholarship on the role of capital markets in society.  The collection was founded in 2001 with an initial matching gift from an anonymous donor.  Recent acquisitions include documents relating to the development of capital markets in Europe, Colonial America and the United States.

Highlights of the early European material include a bond issued by the first modern corporation, the Dutch East India Company, and a bond from the Lekdijk Bovendams water board of 1648, a perpetuity that continues to pay interest.  The early American financial documents include a significant portion of the former Donaldson, Lufkin, Jenrette Collection of materials relating to the financing of the American Revolution (Uncat MSS 516). Many of the items in the collection can be viewed in the Beinecke Digital Library by searching for the term Finance.

A key strength of the collection is a group of materials related to Het Groote Tafereel or the Great Mirror of Folly, the 1720 Dutch compilation about the South Sea Bubble. A separate collections highlight page includes full scans of many printed versions of this work.

The Beinecke collections include a number of other documents related to the history of Finance.  Among these are the Spinelli Archive and a complete run of The New York Shipping and Commercial List.  The latter contains the official price list of the New York Stock Exchange from 1816 to 1854, and can also be accessed by researchers via the data site of the International Center for Finance.

ORBIS, the Yale Library database, can be searched using keyword terms such as Finance, History, Taxation, Revenue, and Investments as well as genre terms such as Stock certificates, Bonds, and Account Books.

More recently added items in Beinecke Library can be found in the Uncataloged Acquisitions database under the search term Finance.

The International Center for Finance at the Yale School of Management has a permanent exhibit of documents from the history of financial innovation on display at 46 Hillhouse Avenue.  This exhibit is accessible via the ICF website.